In a vertically movable vehicle window, it has been a conventional practice to connect a windowpane to a window regulator mechanism, by holding the windowpane with a windowpane holder, so that the windowpane can be moved vertically by operating the window regulator mechanism. As for the material of the windowpane holder, metallic materials have been used in the past, though synthetic resin materials are currently used. Known windowpane holder made of synthetic resin materials has a holder groove, into which the peripheral region of a windowpane is inserted and held thereby, and an adhesive agent is injected into the holder groove to adhere the windowpane and the glass holder to each other, so as to produce a vehicle window assembly.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 08-177307 (Patent Document 1) discloses a vehicle windowpane holder that includes a leg section to be connected to a window regulator mechanism, and a windowpane holding section with a windowpane receiving groove defined by opposed surface portions extending from the leg section and having a substantially rectangular shape, and a bottom surface portion. Each of the opposed surface portions has both side edges that are projected inwards toward the corresponding side edges of the opposite surface portion, so as to form an adhesive agent retaining portion. Furthermore, a thin film portion extends inwards from the side edge of the opposed surface portion so as to partly cover the end portion of the windowpane receiving groove. The leg section of the windowpane holder is provided with a connection hole, to which a connection nut is secured.
With the known vehicle windowpane holder, a vehicle window assembly is produced by holding the vehicle windowpane holder with a jig, injecting an adhesive agent into the windowpane receiving groove, inserting a windowpane into the windowpane receiving groove from its opening side, so that the adhesive agent spreads over the adhesive agent retaining portion, causing the windowpane holder to be adhered to the windowpane and thereby completing the assembly. The vehicle window assembly so produced is mounted in place by using a fitting for connecting the leg section of the windowpane holder to a window regulator mechanism that is arranged inside of a vehicle door panel, so as to allow the windowpane to be moved vertically.
In the known vehicle windowpane holder, the provision of the thin film portions extending inwards from the both side edges of the opposed surface portions has for its object to allow assembling of a windowpane with a different thickness. Thus, when a windowpane with a different thickness is assembled, the clearance between the windowpane and the both side edges of the opposed surface portions changes, so that this change is absorbed by the thin film portions. For example, when a thick windowpane is assembled, the edge of the thin film portions is deformed or removed by the windowpane to absorb the change in the clearance. On the contrary, when a thin windowpane is assembled, since the clearance between the opposed surface portions is substantially same as the thickness of the windowpane, the thin film portions are not subjected to deformation or removal. In this instance, however, as compared to the assembling of a thick windowpane, due to an increased clearance between the windowpane and the both side edges of the opposed surface portions, an increased amount of adhesive agent must be injected into the windowpane receiving groove in order to prevent lowering of the adhesion force, thereby requiring management of the injection amount of the adhesive agent.
In the known vehicle windowpane holder, although both ends of the windowpane receiving groove are partly closed by the thin film portions, there still exist openings corresponding to the minimum thickness of the windowpane. Therefore, when the adhesive agent is injected and the windowpane is inserted into the windowpane receiving groove, there may be leakage or spewing of the adhesive agent from the openings at the both ends of the windowpane receiving groove, to contaminate the surroundings or lower the adhesion force.
In connection with such a potential problem, Patent Document 1 describes that the leakage or spewing of the adhesive agent during the assembling is prevented by forming the thin film portions to extend upwards from the bottom surface portion of the windowpane receiving groove, as means for preventing the leakage or spewing of the adhesive agent. However, in the windowpane holder disclosed in Patent Document 1, because the opposed surface portions of the glass holding section extend from the leg section with a rectangular shape, each side edge of the opposed surface portions extends in a direction perpendicular to the leg section. The insertion of the windowpane with respect to the windowpane receiving groove is performed by moving the windowpane in a direction perpendicular to the leg section. Thus, the insertion direction of the windowpane is parallel to the both side edges of the opposed surface portions. As a result, the tip end of the thin film portion as the leakage preventing means may be crushed and removed upon insertion of the windowpane, or the removed pieces or powder-like chaffs may fall onto the bottom surface portion to cause dislocation of the inserted position of the windowpane. Furthermore, the residual part of the thin film portions remaining without having been removed, or the removed chaffs may come into contact with the adhesive agent to lower the adhesion force. Moreover, after the vehicle window assembly so produced has been mounted onto the vehicle, the removed chaffs may fall into inside of the door panel, possibly causing generation of abnormal noise.